


Party Crasher

by Talyesin



Series: Aftermath on Finite Earths [10]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyesin/pseuds/Talyesin





	Party Crasher

Earth-One  
Gotham City

The week had passed with excruciating slowness.

As Helena had known would happen, her father forbade her attending the Halloween Costume Party. Being her mother's daughter, it had only made her want to attend even more. So much so, that when her classmate had asked what she was coming dressed as, she'd answered, "Batgirl, of course."

"Batwoman, you mean?" Stephanie had asked. It was recess, and the two friends were playing on the swings.

"She was Batgirl before that," Helena answered. She was glad her mother had insisted she attend a regular public school, because otherwise she never would have met Stephanie, or Tim, or any of her other friends.

"Well, Tim's going as Robin," Stephanie answered, blushing. Everyone in school knew she had a major crush on Tim - everyone except Tim. "Not the new girl Robin, but the first one. The one who's Nightwing now? But anyway, if he's going as Robin, I can't go as the new girl Robin, so that kind of spoiled my idea."

"Is everyone going as one of the Bat Family?"

"Not me," said the new girl, coming over to the swingset. "I'm going as Wonder Girl."

What was her name? Oh yeah, Helena thought. "Cassie, you mean Wonder Woman."

"No, I mean Wonder Girl," the new girl answered, flipping her long blonde hair out of her face and crossing her arms. "Like Batwoman, she was a superhero girl once."

"Yeah, only you're blonde and she's not," Stephanie said.

"Well, so are you, and Robin's got hair as dark as Helena's," Cassie said.

"Um, yeah, but anyone can get a wig nowadays," Helena said, trying to change the subject from her physical similarity to the 'new girl Robin'. "So you both could look like who you want."

"Are you going to get a red wig to be Batgirl?" Cassie asked.

"Um, I dunno," Helena answered.

"Well, then, I don't know if I'll wear a wig, either."

"Fine, whatever," Helena said. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"You think he'll be there?" Stephanie asked.

"You just said Tim was going," Helena said, confused.

"Not Tim... him," Stephanie answered, indicating who she was talking about by nodding her head off to one side.

The three girls looked over to the quiet, bespectacled boy sitting alone in the playground.

"Conner Cadmus?" Helena asked.

"He's so... weird," Stephanie said.

"I don't know," Cassie said. "He's kinda cute."

"Ewww!" both other girls said, making faces. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Merciful Minerva," she muttered.

The night of the Halloween Costume Party finally arrived, and Cassie still hadn't managed to get her costume, or figure out how she was going to get past her father and into Gotham. She had to go to the party, everyone she knew was going to be there. And it was so unfair that her father had said she couldn't go, all because of that one night on patrol with Aunt Barbara. The two things were completely unrelated.

After supper she went down to the Batcave to train, like she had every night for the past three and a half weeks. She was so tired of training all the time and never getting to go out on patrol. She looked across the cave to where her costume was hanging. Aunt Barbara's, Dick's, and Jason's costume were all missing - they were already on patrol. Her mother and father's costumes hung in their display cases, almost unused these days. Only a real emergency would get them in gear. Father spent his time in front of the Batcomputer, co-ordinating the Bat Family and their assorted associates; Helena's mother said over and over again that "being a mother was enough of an adrenalin rush" for her.

Helena went to the exercise mat behind the giant penny and began working through her katas, her costume seeming to stare at her accusingly. She had to train to be able to wear the Robin costume again; she had to go to the Halloween Costume Party. How was she supposed to be both Helena and Robin? It was impossible.

As she was exercising, her father came down the stone steps, pausing for a moment to watch her.

"You keep dropping your left arm, Helena. Don't get lazy."

She very deliberately didn't look over at him, didn't protest that she was tired, that she was just eight, that she was doing the best she could. She did, however, raise her left arm. Any sarcasm found in the gesture was lost on her father, who had already turned and walked to the Batcomputer, sitting in his chair, donning the headset that allowed him to enter commands verbally.

Except for the murmur of her father's voice at the Batcomputer and the sound of Helena's thrusts and breathing, the cave was quiet, the bats who lived there gone hunting.

Then a scream broke the silence. "Bruce!"

Helena's father was out of his seat and running for the stone steps that led to the Manor when her mother came running down. Helena stopped her training, running over to them.

"Selena, what's wrong?"

"Check the Arkham feed!" she cried, running into his arms.

The three of them glanced at the computer console that showed the inmates of Gotham's insane asylum. The psychopaths, sociopaths, and other madmen and women of Arkham seemed to be peacefully relaxing in their cells.

"Computer, reboot Arkham feed," Bruce said into the headset.

One by one, the cells on the monitor disappeared to black then came back, showing the same scene. All except one.

"Computer, transmission override," Bruce said, his voice fierce and thick with fury. As they waited for the Batcomputer to establish links to everyone on the Batnetwork, Helena's father asked her mother, "How did you know?"

"It was on tv," she answered, already donning her familiar purple and green Catwoman costume. "He counted on fooling your feed for those few minutes he needed to escape."

"Who escaped, Daddy?" Helena asked. She'd never seen either of her parents react this way.

"Batnetwork online," the Batcomputer said.

"All agents, report," Bruce ordered. One by one, everyone answered: Nightwing, Flamebird, Batwoman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawk, Dove, Ragman, Elongated Man, Metamorpho, Raven, Changeling, Cyborg, Speedy, Lilith, Atom, Bumblebee, Zatanna.

"What's up, Bats?" Elongated Man asked.

"Code One Alert, Ralph," Bruce answered. "The Joker's escaped Arkham."

There was a flurry of co-ordination as the assorted heroes of Gotham organized themselves. No one wanted a repeat of what had happened the last time the Joker escaped. Helena watched in fascination as her father donned his costume, something she'd never witnessed in her young life, though she'd only been made aware of her family's true calling three years before, when she'd fallen through an abandoned well into the Batcave.

"Helena, I want you to keep training, and go to bed when Julia tells you," her mother said to her, kneeling to hug her tight.

"Okay, Mom."

And then they were gone. The Batcomputer hummed behind her, the Batcave silent.

Helena knew she'd found her chance. She snuck over to where Aunt Barbara's first Batgirl costume hung, opened the display case and took everything out, dressing herself quickly. She didn't have much time - the Halloween Costume Party had already started.

Getting to Gotham itself was a little more problematic, but she'd gotten a pretty cool bicycle for her birthday, so all that remained was riding her bike all the way to school.

By the time she got there, the party was halfway over, but she didn't care - she was there, she was wearing the Bat, she had gotten around her father's orders. She felt amazing.

Of course, seeing all her friends in costume, seeing the amazed looks on their faces as she walked in, made her feel even more amazing. She walked right up to her friends - Stephanie in a purple suit and green cape, dressed as Helena's mother, Catwoman; Cassie in a red unitard with white stars down her side and leg, Wonder Woman's old Wonder Girl costume; Tim in the familiar green shorts, red vest, and yellow cape of the original Robin costume. Even Conner was there, standing in the corner by the punch bowl, dressed as Superman.

"Wow, Helena!" Stephanie said. "You look totally cool!"

"Thanks, Catgirl,'' Helena joked, laughing.

"No wig, huh?" Cassie asked.

"You neither," Helena answered. "Nice shorts, Tim."

Tim's masked face turned bright red. "These shorts are way too short."

"Um, I think they're kind of cute," Stephanie said.

"Even the teachers came in costume, look," Cassie said. The kids turned to look where she was pointing.

Several teachers were, in fact, wearing costumes. There was old Mrs. McCreedy dressed like Black Canary, and fat Mr. Livingstone dressed like the Flash. Not everyone was dressed like a superhero, but most people were. There was a cowboy - probably Mr. Giordiano - and a ballerina - Ms. Kahn. There was even some clowns. One of the clowns was incredibly thin, Helena saw, feeling suddenly more scared than she ever had in her entire life.

"That's not a costume," she told her friends.


End file.
